The present invention relates to a device and method for gathering information, and more particularly, gathering information over the Internet on fuel product levels from the Point-of-Sales system of remote, spaced apart fueling locations networked together to a server.
The traveling public often pump motor fuel into their own vehicles at self serve fueling sites and convenience stores, there are now over one hundred fifty thousand self serve fueling sites in the US alone. Americans pump fuel into the fuel tank of their cars over seventeen billion times a year. The Environmental Protect Agency (EPA) requires that all underground storage tanks (UST) at these sites be monitored for small leaks. Through the years EPA has allowed several monthly monitoring options including: automatic tank gauging, ground water monitoring, tank interstitial wall monitoring, vapor monitoring, and statistical inventory reconciliation (SIR) of data from the fueling sites. The present disclosure relates to a method for gathering information from these remote sites over the Internet, namely, gathering fuel sales, fuel deliveries, and fuel tank levels for SIR analysis.
There are several commercial brands of fuel dispensers used in the retail petroleum industry to dispense fuel to the public. Dispensers are manufactured by different manufacturers including Gilbarco, Tokheim, Wayne Dresser, and others. The present invention discloses a method for gathering information from different dispenser brands which are often used within the fueling network of the present disclosure. USTs provide fuel to the dispensers, and they typically hold a maximum volume of 10,000 gallons. Three product grades are usually offered, therefore, three tanks are on site unless blend dispensers are used in which case there would be two tanks.
Fuel dispensers at self service fueling sites are typically controlled by a dispenser controller located in a building at the site so that the site attendant can monitor and control the dispensing process. The dispenser controller is generally a microprocessor (MP) based system with read-only-memory (ROM) and read-and-write-memory (RAM) for writing, reading, and storing information. The controller sends data signals (commands) to the dispensers including price to charge for the fuel dispensed, preset amounts of fuel to dispense, and pump authorization to dispense fuel. The dispensers likewise send data signals (responses) to the controller including pump number, pump status, and dispensed fuel volume and value.
The personal computer (PC) is particularly well suited for use as a dispenser controller since it can simultaneously perform other functions including cash register, scanning, wet and dry stock inventory, accounting, payroll, and other modules. These systems are generally referred to as Point-of-Sales (POS) systems. In the present invention, the POS at individual fueling locations is in addition connected through a communication network to a server which collects, stores, and sorts product level information at the remote fueling sites.
In the present disclosure, information on fuel sales, fuel deliveries, and existing fuel tank inventory are collected via the Internet where the server is networked to the POS system. As stated above, the POS controls the dispensers where the POS reads the dispenser totals for the requested fueling position, hose number through a pump totals command. This is a non-resettable, running total of fuel dispensed, stored in each of the dispenser. The POS is also interfaced to an ATG which measures the inches of fuel in the UST. Fuel deliveries are key into the POS by store personnel. Since the Internet communicates over phone lines for a portion of its path, this provides a menthol for electronically identifying specific fueling sites by assigning an electronic address.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,694,326, 5,557,529 and 5,270,943, having common inventors and assignee, relate to fuel pump control centers for controlling dispensers through the POS system. The above patents are incorporated as references into the present disclosure. The present disclosure expands on the fuel pump control center disclosure by combining the control system with the Internet to form an information gathering system for collecting product profile levels including fuel dispensed for each hose at each fueling position for each dispenser. This information is obtained from the dispensers by the POS through a fuel pump control center. The POS is further serially interfaced to an ATG for determining the amount of existing inventory in each tank. The POS accumulates this information into a data file which is later transferred over the Internet as a data packet.
U.S. Pat. No 5,423,457, issued to Michael Nicholas et al., discloses a system for detecting product lost which uses a site controller to perform SIR analysis on inventory data on site. U.S. Pat. No 5,400,253, issued to Paul O""Conner, discloses an on-site computer system which constantly collects and analyses data through a SIR formula. These references, however, do not disclose all of the elements as disclosed and used in combination in the present disclosure. The present disclosure combines the pump control technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 326, 529, and 943 with an off-site server through the Internet for the purpose of gathering dispenser and UST information through the POS at remote sites.
In summary, the present invention provides a method for gathering product level profile information from the POS of different, spaced apart fueling locations networked together to a server through the Internet. The POS monitors the dispensers through a pump control center to determine the amount of fuel dispensed and the ATG to determine the amount of product remaining in the USTs, and it tracts fuel additions to the USTs from delivery trucks. This information is stored in a data file in the POS, and is later linked together along with a site identifier to form a data packet for transmission. A communication network interconnects the POS systems of the remote fueling sites with a server. The server maintains a searchable-selectable database of routing numbers for the remote sites, and a database of product level information for each remote site. The server polls individually the remote sites to obtain the data packets. The data packet is in digital form if delivery is over the Internet, and it may be further be encoded for protection. Configurators may further be used to configure the logic signals from the controller into signals which are readable by different dispenser brands so that different dispenser brands can be used in the network.
When a customer pulls his vehicle up to a dispenser for fuel, he selects the grade of fuel he wishes to put in his vehicle, for example, low, mid, high grades are most often offered. This information along with the method of payment for the fuel is sent to the POS and the dispenser is authorized to dispense fuel. As fuel is dispensed, the dispenser keeps a running (non-resettable) total of each product grade dispensed by fueling position and hose number. A fueling position is one side of a dispenser and the hose number identifies the product grade. The dispenser totals are later obtained by the POS through the dispenser interface module, which is part of the POS application programming.
After the sale is complete, the dispenser sends to the POS sale information including fueling position, hose number, type sale, dollar amount, and volume amount. This information can be stored and sorted in various data formats by the POS programming. One widely used data form is called a Shift Total, i.e., the amount of fuel dispensed during the employee""s shift. When an employee at the site starts his shift, his shift total value is set at zero. His final shift total number is an accumulation of fuel sales during the shift.
The POS at the remote sites are further electrically interfaced to the ATGs through a serial interface. ATGs are widely used in the retail petroleum industry, and include a probe which is positioned in USTs for measuring the amount of water in the tank, the amount of product in the tank, and product temperature. The configuration of the interface between the POS and the ATG depends on the manufacturer of the probe, but generally involves a serial hardware communication device. An ATG interface module in the POS programming provides the conduit for the transfer of UST product inventory levels from the ATG to the POS.
The USTs provide feed stock to the dispensers as product is dispensed. The USTs are usually 10,000 gallon tanks which are replenished with product by delivery trucks. The ATG formulates a xe2x80x9cdelivery reportxe2x80x9d from probe information, and the driver also reports to the store manager information on the delivery. The later can be manually input into the POS. A data accumulation module in the POS programming links the above discussed UST inventory data with the dispenser totals and fuel added data to form a data packet for transfer to the server.
A negative balance between the amount delivered, the tank inventory, and the amount dispensed are evidence of a small tank leak. However, several other factors can caused negative balances when calculating inventory data including: faulty dispenser calibration, faulty ATG controller, and Improper placement of the probe in the UST. These factors can also cause a positive balance. False alarms are quite common in monitoring for small leaks. For stand alone devices, EPA standards for a system are detecting a leak of 0.2 gallon per hour with a probability of detection at least 0.95 and a probability of false detection no greater than 0.05.
In its simplest form, the server in the present disclosure would maintain a database of routing numbers for the remote fueling sites and a database for up-dating product level profile information from the remote sites. In a preferred embodiment the server transmits the gathered information to a SIR facility for analysis. Several companies in the US, including Simmons Corp in Texas, have been established for the purpose of preforming SIR analysis on product level information. Large computers at these facilities systematically analyze trends for tank inventory for various data points. In an alternate embodiment the server would include the programming for the SIR analysis.
Accordingly, the primary object of this invention is to provide a method for gathering product level profile information from remote fueling sites.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for gathering product level profile information from remote fueling sites using dispensers within the communication network which are manufactured by different manufacturers.
A further object of the present disclosure is to provide a method for gathering product level information where the information is transmitted as data packets.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for gathering product level information where the data packets are transmitted over the Internet, a cable system, or a satellite based communication system network.